When I was 12 years old, I got a terrible sinus infection while on vacation with my family. I spent three days in bed, had an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin I was given, and fainted. I couldn’t eat without throwing up, and my head was pounding for days and days and days. Now, years later, I don’t remember much of what happened, but I do know this: it was one of the most painful experiences I’ve ever had.
Since I got that sinus infection eight years ago, I’ve had a multitude of infections in my sinus. They’ve ranged from mild to severe, but each time I get a sinus infection I’m basically out for the day. Given their regularity, however, I’ve gotten used to figuring out ways to make my head hurt less, at least for a little while, so that I can go about my day and not lose any sleep (literally).
A few years ago, my mom took an old pillowcase and cut it up, filled it with dried rice and told me that, whenever I got a headache, I should heat it up in the microwave for forty-five seconds and then keep it on my head until the pack wasn’t hot anymore. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t; but more often than not, it provided some temporary relief. But it can also be hard to use if I heat it up too much, so I’ve got to watch it. And making the trek from my dorm room to the kitchen (my dorm is on the second floor, the kitchen on the ground floor) at four in the morning is not something I want to make a habit of.
Another thing that I started to use regularly was a nasal spray. The Neti Pot works great, but it’s not something that I really like to do every time my sinuses tingle. I don’t like nasal sprays all that much either, but they’re better than nothing when the homemade heating pad my mom made doesn’t work.
A lot of times, ibuprofen and Sudafed will work to stop the pain (at least for a little while). I make sure to eat something and then drink plenty of water so that I don’t get too dehydrated. And then, I try to sleep. Sometimes my sinus headaches go away after a few hours, but sometimes they last the whole day. When that’s the case, all I can really do is just check out for the day and hope that by the time I wake up the following morning, everything is fine.
There’s nothing I can really do to prevent the sinus headaches that I get, but I can make sure to drink a lot of water and make sure to take my allergy medicine. If I can’t stop them, I should at least be prepared for them and have a plan so that I don’t end up having to take a sick day because of a stupid headache.
